Photos of Shrouded & Ducted Wind Turbines by Paul Gipe

Ducted or shrouded wind turbines have been invented and reinvented throughout the 20th century. Ducted turbines are often wrapped in mysterious, technical babble, such as diffuser augmentation, that is beyond the ken of most observers. Even supposedly sophisticated engineers have been snared by what at first appears to be a startling new technology "overlooked" for decades by everyone else.

Do augmented turbines work? Yes, of course. Cup anemometers work too, but we don't use them to produce electricity. Why? Because cup anemometers can't compete with modern, high-speed turbines. The same is true with ducted turbines. They have been tried--time and again--and found wanting.